In today’s SportSense Entertainment Newsletter…

Additional Model Predictions ⬇️

NBA Model Predictions- Click Here

NHL Model Predictions- Click Here

There were plenty of model predictions to go around yesterday across the NHL, with our model focusing in on one of those predictions in our Featured Matchup. That prediction went 0-1 overall, and you can see how the rest of the model’s performed below.

Money Line Predictions: 10-4

Over/Under Predictions: 7-6-1

Puck Line Predictions: 4-10

Featured Matchup: 0-1

Two NFL games are scheduled to take place today. Our model’s predictions for both matchups can be found below.

Detroit Lions @ San Francisco 49ers

Model Predicts- 49ers ML, UNDER 51.5, Lions +7.5

The Detroit Lions will make the cross-country journey to San Francisco, California this weekend to battle the 49ers in the NFC Championship game.

Detroit has reached this point by defeating the Rams and Buccaneers in the first two rounds of the postseason, beating the Rams by one point and the Buccaneers by eight. Meanwhile, San Francisco secured a first round bye and strung together a late scoring drive to defeat the Green Bay Packers last weekend.

Only one more win is needed in order to reach the Super Bowl, and our model believes the 49ers will emerge victorious in a tightly contested contest today. Let’s take a look at why that is.

Detroit Lions

• Lack of outdoor games is a concern for some people

  • 14 games played indoors this season vs 5 outdoors

  • 3-2 in outdoor games while averaging 350.6 yards per game. Wins over Chiefs, Packers, and Buccaneers

• Elite red zone offense

  • Score TD on 66.20% of red zone drives this season. Has spiked to over 81.00% in last three games

• Pass defense is big concern

  • Have allowed 345 pass yards per game over last three games

San Francisco 49ers

• Came out of bye week flat

  • Brock Purdy- completed 58% of pass attempts

  • Defense- 5.3 yards per play and 4.9 yards per rush attempt

• Defense is starting to slip late in season

  • Rank 24th in opponent rush success rate. Allowed 136 rush yards to Packers last week

  • Horrible on third downs- Rank 27th in opponent 3rd down conversion % (41.67%). Has spiked to 51.35% over last three games

• Deebo Samuel likely to play after leaving last week’s game

What’s the Play?

Neither one of these defenses are particularly impressive, which should lead to plenty of points today. However, we think the best angle to take here is to back the Lions on the spread.

A huge problem that the 49ers face is their inability to force punts. As previously mentioned, opponents are converting on over 50% of their third downs against San Francisco over the last three games, with Green Bay converting 53.8% of its third downs last week. That is going to enable a potent offense like Detroit to move the ball down the field and sustain drives, giving arguably the best red zone offense in the NFL plenty of opportunities to score touchdowns.

The 49ers will move the ball well in this game too, but we think Detroit has enough fire power on offense to keep up. We’ll back the Lions here.

The Play: Lions +7.5 (-110)

Money Line Trends 💰

• Baltimore Ravens- 14-4 overall this season, 7-3 as the home team

• San Francisco 49ers- 13-5 overall this season, 6-3 as the home team

Over/Under Trends ⬆️⬇️

• Kansas City Chiefs- Under is 13-6 this season, 10-4 against AFC opponents

Spread Trends ➕➖

• Baltimore Ravens- 12-6 against the spread (ATS) this season, 6-3 ATS as a home favorite

• Detroit Lions- 13-6 ATS this season, highest win % in NFL. 2-1 ATS as a road underdog

💪 Humphrey expected to play in AFC Championship game. Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey is anticipated to participate in the AFC Championship Game against the Kansas City Chiefs, despite being questionable with a calf injury. Humphrey, who missed the divisional round after sustaining the injury in Week 17, may have a limited role in the game. The 27-year-old, crucial to the league's top-scoring defense, has faced injury challenges throughout the season, including a foot ailment in training camp and a previous calf injury in Week 10 that caused him to miss two games.

🤝 Falcons hire Zac Robinson for OC position. The Atlanta Falcons have appointed Zac Robinson, the Los Angeles Rams' pass-game coordinator, as their new offensive coordinator. Robinson agreed to a three-year deal and will join forces with head coach Raheem Morris, with whom he previously collaborated under Sean McVay's coaching staff in Los Angeles over the last three seasons. Having ascended from assistant quarterbacks coach to pass-game coordinator and quarterbacks coach with the Rams, Robinson is expected to focus on improving the Falcons' quarterback performance and offensive consistency, given their challenges in the 2023 season.

Today’s trivia requires you to dig into multiple pockets of your brain, testing your knowledge of recent events as well as those that happened decades ago.

See how many of the below questions you can get correct. Answers are provided at the end of the newsletter.

Question #1- Who did the New Orleans Hornets select with the No.4 overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft?

Question #2- What NFL team went to four straight Super Bowls, but failed to win a single one?

Question #3- Miguel Cabrera played for what team from 2003-07 before joining the Detroit Tigers in 2008?

Anyone know what has happened on January 28th throughout history? We didn’t have a clue either, but it appears that it has been a busy day.

On January 28th…

1975- Steve Bartkowski is selected with the No.1 overall pick in the 1975 NFL Draft. Bartkowski, a quarterback, was selected out of the University of California by the Atlanta Falcons. Bartkowski played for Atlanta through the 1985 season before going on to suit up for the Los Angeles Rams in the final year of his career.

1988- New York Rangers star Marcel Dionne scores a power play goal in a 5-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. The goal was Dionne’s 20th of the season, making him the first player in NHL history to score 20 goals in each of his first 17 seasons. He would end his career with 731 goals, the sixth-most in NHL history.

2001- The Baltimore Ravens defeat the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV. Baltimore scored 34 points to New York’s 7, going into halftime with a 10-7 lead before scoring 24 unanswered points in the final two quarters. Ray Lewis, who made three tackles and added to assists and four blocked passes, was named MVP.

1. Chris Paul

2. Buffalo Bills

3. Florida Marlins